(Yicai Global) Jan. 19 -- As consumer spending picks up in China, makeup gift boxes have become even more popular among people intending to give presents over the fast-approaching Lunar New Year holiday.

Sales of makeup and beauty gift sets have jumped 68 percent in the past two months compared with a year earlier, according to figures from e-commerce platform Vip.Com. This is because gift boxes make for a more presentable gift, staff in the marketing departments of a number of brands told Yicai Global.

More and more cosmetics brands are working with e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.Com, and Vip.Com to launch limited edition gift sets for the Year of the Rabbit. Vip.Com alone has signed deals with more than 10 brands, including Clarins, Winona, and Chando.

Linkups between makeup brands and online shopping platforms on customized gift boxes and targeted marketing will be the norm in future, according to some industry insiders, who added that the differentiating of products based on the platforms they are sold on will also become more evident.

At CNY1 trillion (USD147.6 billion), China’s gift box market is the world’s biggest, according to a report by the China Gift Chamber of Commerce under the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. The market is expected to expand to CNY1.5 trillion this year.

Looking forward, the value of gift set transactions on e-commerce platforms will grow hand in hand with the industry’s higher penetration rate in those channels, Qianzhan Industrial Research Institute predicted in a research report.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione